1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to supercavitating high-speed bodies, and more particularly to supercavitating torpedoes.
2. Related Art
Homing supercavitating torpedo concepts currently being considered in ongoing research and development programs employ cavitators with a positive pressure drag coefficient, which is well known to produce a concave cavity that expands outward in the downstream direction from the cavity inception point to some maximum cavity radius, then contract to the point of cavity closure, usually positioned downstream of the body. A significant drag advantage is obtained via the near elimination of friction drag.
However, the small wetted area of the cavitator poses problems if that area is to host transducers suitable for forming the elements of a sonar system. Specifically, the amount of acoustical power that can be transmitted via the small wetted area is limited: overpowering the system causes cavitation on the nominally wetted transducer faces, causing severe performance degradation. Furthermore, the aperture of the sonar array is limited by the small cavitator diameter. Finally, the number of array elements that can be practically packed within such a small volume is also quite limited, which in turn limits the beam-forming capabilities of the system. Since drag of such a cavitator is directly proportional to its sectional area at the plane of cavity detachment, simply increasing the cavitator size is not a practical option, since it would eliminate the drag advantage that is otherwise gained via supercavitation.
What is needed then is an improved cavitator that overcomes shortcomings of conventional solutions.